Assessing the impact of the Dobbs decision on clients served by Indigenous Women Rising
Abortion
Awarded 2023
Leveraging existing resources to document the impact of Dobbs
Rachael N. Lorenzo, MPA
Indigenous Women Rising
$9,924

This research project will examine the impact of the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision on Indigenous people who receive abortion-related financial assistance from the nonprofit organization Indigenous Women Rising (IWR). IWR’s mission is to honor and promote Indigenous people’s right to equitable and culturally safe reproductive health options. Its programs include an abortion fund that supports Indigenous clients in accessing abortion care and related services. Accessing this care may be challenging for many Indigenous people due to the absence of abortion facilities on reservations, the lack of abortion services at Indian Health Services, and the complex web of state and federal laws they must navigate, particularly in the wake of Dobbs. The project will assess Dobbs’ impact on IWR clients by analyzing whether significant differences exist between the actual distances traveled by clients for abortion care and the distances estimated for their travel by the Abortion Access Dashboard in both the pre- and post-Dobbs periods. The project will then examine whether temporal, geographic, and legal factors are associated with variation in these differences. The project will also analyze whether legal and other abortion-related factors may predict the number of clients who contact IWR each month for financial assistance. Results will improve our understanding of travel-related issues that IWR clients may face, and factors associated with their need for abortion funds. Project findings will not only aid IWR’s advocacy efforts but will also contribute to a broader understanding of the challenges encountered by Indigenous people seeking abortion care in the post-Dobbs era.